Press Release: 11/5/2009

Michael Soto Announces
SBOE District 3 Candidacy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Michael Soto (cell: 210-685-8378; email: michael@michael-soto.org)

San Antonio – Public school parent and college professor Michael Soto will seek the Democratic Party nomination to represent Bexar County and deep South Texas on the State Board of Education.

Citing a need to prepare Texas schoolchildren for global opportunities and to restore confidence in the management of the Texas Permanent School Fund, Soto will vie for the District 3 seat.

“For too long, our State Board of Education has put politics and personal gain ahead of our children’s success,” Soto declared. “The controversies swirling around current Board members are a call to action. I can’t sit idly by while Texas schoolchildren fall behind their peers in other parts of the nation and the world.”

Beginning with the backing of key Democratic Party, community, and business leaders—including former State Senator and former State Board of Education representative Joe G. Bernal, former San Antonio City Councilwoman María Antonietta Berriozábal, HEB Chairman and CEO Charles Butt, State Representative Joaquín Castro, former State Senator and AT&T Vice President John Montford, State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, State Representative Mike Villarreal, and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff—Soto pledged to take a spirited and positive campaign throughout the thirteen-county district.

Soto stated that his vision for the State Board of Education and Texas public schools rests on four pillars: relying on educational experts, not on partisan ideologues, in developing school policies; listening to teachers and other front-line educators when adopting new standards and textbooks; restoring public trust in how Texas manages its Permanent School Fund; and preparing Texas schools for a longer school year and the highest academic standards in the nation.

“The State Board of Education must get back to the serious business of preparing our children for success in college and in their careers,” Soto said. “I will work tirelessly to put Texas kids first.”

After attending public schools in Brownsville ISD throughout his childhood, Soto received a B.A. degree from Stanford University and a Ph.D. degree from Harvard University. He is presently associate professor of English and director of the McNair Scholars Program at Trinity University. He is married to Celina Peña and their son is a first grade student in San Antonio ISD.

The counties in SBOE District 3 are Atascosa, Bee, Bexar, Brooks, Duval, Frio, Hidalgo, Jim Wells, Karnes, Live Oak, McMullen, Medina, and Wilson.

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